The St. Croix County Parks Department teamed up with the St. Croix Sportsman Alliance to organize a kids' fishing contest at Perch Lake Saturday, Feb 23.

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The two-hour contest was open to children ages 6-12. Some 58 kids checked in eager to learn about ice fishing and kept alliance, park and Friends of Perch Lake (FOPL) volunteers very busy drilling and clearing holes and giving advice. Most had not previously enjoyed the pastime.

The big winner for the day was Andrew Smith of New Richmond. He won the prize of an ice fishing rod supplied by the St. Croix Sportsmen Alliance for catching the largest fish of the day -- a 360-gram rainbow trout.

The Alliance supplied a gift bag for each child filled with Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources information as well as an ice fishing pole for a prize. The parks department donated a day pass and boat rental for Homestead Parklands, a county park on Perch Lake.

Nearby business Bass Lake Cheese Factory donated cheese as a prize. The Friends of Perch Lake donated two T-shirts as door prize drawings.